If you have been to Japan and hanging around famous night spots like Shinjuku and Shibuya, did you notice well-dressed men hanging around and poaching girls? I have been to Japan thrice and it was only until the third time that I finally understood what these well-dressed men were doing. The first two times when I was in Tokyo at Shibuya and Shinjuku, I noticed these guys and thought they were just drawing customers to their clubs, thinking they are probably like hosts or something. Well-dressed, waxed hair, carrying a clutch bag, poaching girls. It turns out, they are not hosts. They are scouters.
At our stay in Japan, we asked the local Japanese what exactly were these people doing and they explained to us that these people are not hosts but scouts. Due to language barrier, it became a little complex to explain hence they recommended us to watch Shinjuku Swan to understand about that trade. So who are these people scouting for? If you observe more intently, you’ll realise that they mostly only scout for locals. They are scouting for people (mostly girls) to work in the trade where the girls get to earn money from host clubs, sex clubs, massage parlours, possibly idols, gravure idols, adult videos etc. The girls they scouted for are ranked A, B, C and the amount of money earned differs according to ranks. The scouters will then earned based on commission and a percentage of what their scouted girls earned. This is generally what they do.
Shinjuku Swan was really an eye-opening film because you get to see and understand the dealings of what the scouters and girls do. You cannot fathom why young people don’t get a decent job but go into this trade. But that being said, some of them actually do have decent jobs in the day but when night comes, these people have a second job as scouters and call-girls. The reasons varies for why they do this, but ultimately, the returns are high. That is why many girls go into this trade willingly. You can attribute this to materialism or some who are struggling financially and needed quick money. If Shinjuku Swan really depicts correctly what this trade is all about, then it can also get quite political where among the scouters, there are hierarchies and they belong to companies where they can only scout from different territories. There could possibly be a blurred line with Yakuza’s involvement (just speculating here, please don’t hunt me down!). Drugs, money laundering, shady businessman may possibly be involved as well.
It’s a little difficult to explain this, but the film was a great introduction to understanding what these people we see at Kabukicho do and how it works. Is it a bad thing or a bad job? I wonder because the film also brings in the social aspect and well-being of people in this trade. However, there are many reports that mentioned that many of the girls were coerced into such jobs, thinking they are scouted to be a TV personality but ended up working as call-girls and adult videos. Then again, isn’t it a little naive to think that it is easy to work in the entertainment industry by getting scouted on the street and it is Japan we are talking about where the entertainment industry can get a little shady. This is a debatable question whether the scouter is wrong to target on vulnerable girls of young age or that the girls should not be too greedy for fame and be more alert about such dealings. The list goes on but I leave that to the academias to debate on it. What I’m saying here is that it ultimately starts with the premise of why people goes into this trade. Willingly or unwillingly. Are they happy with what they are doing? Do they feel that working in this trade compromises their morals? We may not agree with such lifestyle, but honestly, who are we to judge?
After watching Shinjuku Swan, I do think that we’ll have a different outlook the next time we walk down the night street of Kabukicho. As a tourist, do I feel safe to walk down that street? To be honest, I still don’t have an answer to that, however most of the time, they don’t really bother the tourists (unless business is not doing well that they may approach you). I think walking at the well-lighted main street of Kabukicho is still relatively safe, but it gets a little overwhelming and dangerous when you walk alone especially if you are a girl at a dark alley (this is just common sense, really). Nonetheless, I’ll definitely be hanging at Kabukicho a little longer the next time and observe more on the ongoings and interactions of people working there.
To sum it up, do scouters only hangout at Shinjuku Kabukicho? Not really. So long as there are clubs or bars and all, they are everywhere. I saw some at a street near Tokyo Dome, Ikebukuro, Ueno and even at the cross-road of Shibuya. If you simply just want to observe at a safe and less obvious way, hang out at the Starbucks in Shibuya, where you get a view of the cross-road. Get a window sit and look down. That’s what I did previously and saw one of them getting a little aggressive, pulling a girl and not letting her go, but she managed to pull free from him and ran away as fast as she could. It’s not an easy job, but that is their livelihood.
Monochronos 